The Blueprint Project

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Primary Instrument: Band/orchestra

Saxophonist Jared Sims, guitarist Eric Hofbauer and pianist Tyson Rogers, now in their early 30's, first met at Boston's New England Conservatory in 1997 and have since each worked with some of the most respected names in creative improvised music.

Together as The Blueprint Project, they augment their original compositions and highly developed interaction with older, more established rhythm section players (thus far the list includes Han Bennink, Cecil McBee and Matt Wilson) to create a consciously eclectic and intergenerational ensemble that is constantly reinventing itself.

Critics have noted the group's “witty, contemporary sounding improvisation” (James Hale, DownBeat) and “intelligent, incisively crafted compositions” (Andy Hamilton, Jazz Review ), and called its music “serious fun” (Julian Cowley, The Wire), “full of striking rhythms and harmonic ideas” (Ted Kane, JazzReview.com) and “nothing short of glorious...music that is a working definition of just how uplifting human creativity can be” (Nic Jones, AllAboutJazz.com).

“They are talented, well educated, thoroughly modern,” wrote Village Voice reviewer Tom Hull. “They can do post-bop, post-Monk, post-Ornette; they can play gospel and tango and free. One of the few jazz groups that feels communal.”

Originally called Pendulabellum when it released its first CD in 1998, The Blueprint Project has since released two more recordings, The Blueprint Project (Creative Nation Music, 2004) and People I Like (Creative Nation Music, 2007), which earned the band a Boston Music Awards nomination for Outstanding Jazz Act of the Year.

Last Updated: November 18, 2009

Publisher's Pick (Aug 13, 2007)
--Michael Ricci, AllAboutJazz.com

...People I Like is serious fun...Bennink’s approval is audible in his exuberant playing. He’s in buoyant form throughout, in his element with a group who are accomplished, imaginative and comitted to enjoyment. Recommended without reservation as an antidote to grey and rainy days.
--Julian Cowley, The Wire

The music they make together is nothing short of glorious. The program of group originals is understandably well tailored to the trio's distinctive group conception, something they’ve had the chance to hone over a period of time, and Bennink brings his characteristic work to bear in a way that’s nothing short of a celebration of life...music that is a working definition of just how uplifting human creativity can be. It’s what those end-of-year polls were invented for.
--Nic Jones, AllAboutJazz.com

...an accomplished set from an ensemble of four individuals who’ve mastered the art of simultaneously playing both against and with one another.
--Robert Shore, Jazzwise

Bennink has a signature style that is very unsubtle yet delicate. With all of the drummer’s theatrics, it is easy to miss the outstanding musicianship of the trio. Besides the original music provided, the very quick-wit response they have to the forcefulness of Bennink is impressive. By the time they settle into ”Nu Noon At Yoshi's,” the ending piece here, they have exhausted all possibilities.
--Mark Corroto, AllAboutJazz.com

It isn’t everyday, and certainly is unexpected, when a trio of young, up-and- coming musicians still experimenting and searching for a defined sound collaborate with one of the most proven, established masters of his instrument; but People I Like is exactly that, combining the forces of a fresh sax/guitar/piano trio from New England with Dutch drummer Han Bennink, one of the vanguard figures in the birth of free jazz in Europe. The music presented on People I Like is profound because it takes an “out” approach to an earlier style of jazz, as opposed to pushing modern creative music further and further in the same direction.
--Mike Szajewski, WNUR-FM (Evanston, IL)

With this new release, they take a giant step forward by linking up with the anarchic, at times over powering but very swinging, Mr. Bennink...this group’s conception has become so finely tuned that they can easily accommodate a player as strong as Bennink. And these pieces are open enough to give Bennink free reign to be himself...it’s become one of my favorite releases of the year.
--Robert Iannapollo, Cadence

Perpetually in motion with ruffs, taps, flams, paradiddles or bounces, the veteran drummer’s precise and swinging pulse enlivens the nine band member-penned originals. Not adverse to good-timey melodies, driven by Bennink’s sand dancer-like brush strokes and unison guitar-saxophone licks, the band is made up of jazzmen as knowledgeable as Bennink.
--Ken Waxman, Whole Note

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